Boys Baseball team wins 3A State Championship

photo courtesy of JDCHS

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The Juan Diego Catholic High School 3A State Baseball champions celebrate their victory over Judge Memorial Catholic High School with a score of 8-3. The win gave the Soaring Eagle their first 3A championship title, and fourth state baseball championship overall. Coach Steve Cramblitt said they worked hard all season.

DRAPER — Juan Diego Catholic High School Baseball beat Judge Memorial Catholic High School in the final State Championship tournament to win the 3A State Title May 16, at Utah Valley University in Orem.

"We actually beat Judge on May 15, 5-2 in the semi-final game," said Steve Cramblitt, head baseball coach and athletic director. "Then we beat them in the final game 8-3."

In the semi-final game, Drew Tate hit a solo home run, and Caleb Olson had a triple. These were two of the big hits in this game

"In the semi-final game A.J. Begay pitched six innings and held them to two runs," said Cramblitt. "Then Olson came in in the seventh inning as a relief, and shut them down. He got three straight outs in the seventh inning.

"In that game we scored four runs in the first inning off Judge Memorial senior A.J. Carmen," said Cramblitt. "Then added a single run later in the game.

"In the championship game, we threw pitcher Luke West, who is a junior," said Cramblitt. "He pitched extremely well. We had an 8-1 lead and he gave up two runs in the seventh inning to make it 8-3. But he was really in control throughout the whole game. Cody Davis had three hits and four RBI’s (runners batted in).

"West just pitched extremely well," said Cramblitt. "He struck out eight guys and was in control throughout the whole game."

Cramblitt said one of their real strengths throughout the whole season was their pitching. Olsen had a 9-0 record, and his earned run average was .81. Begay had a 5-2 record, and his earned run average was 1.52 throughout the whole year. The other two pitchers were Brennan Stelling, who had a record of 6-0, and a 2.76 earned run average; and West was 3-0, with a 2.30 earned run average.

"Our defense throughout the whole year was really strong," said Cramblitt. "Our fielding percentage was .960 throughout the whole year, which is outstanding for a high school team.

"Offensively, we were just strong throughout the year," said Cramblitt. "Our leading hitter was Yuto Kata. He hit 522 and had 34 RBIs. Jared Forbush was real solid in our line up. He hit 474 as did Kody Davis. Davis led us with 36 runs scored. Forbush had 33 runs scored.

"The other big guys in that line up are Matt Semancik, who hit 460 and had 32 RBIs’s," said Cramblitt. "Drew Tate hit 397, with 21 RBIs.

"It was just a real solid team all the way through," said Cramblitt. "Our catcher Taylor Berg was big in the fact that he was really a stabling force as a catcher and handled the pitchers real well, and called all the pitches. He was mentally a very tough, physical catcher. He did an excellent job throughout the year."

Cramblitt said they only lost two games this year. One loss was to Emery High School 7-1, and the other was to Pleasant Grove 3-1.

The Juan Diego Soaring Eagle team won their last 14 straight games for the season from the middle of April to the middle of May.

"The guy went into the state finals really believing in themselves," said Cramblitt. "They thought we were the team to beat, and they really believed that. They beat Wasatch High School 11-4, Morgan High School 3-0, to advance into the state tournament. Then we beat Cedar City High School 8-2 to get into the semi-final game with Judge Memorial. Cedar at that time, was 19-3, so they were a very good team.

"The six seniors really led us this year," said Cramblitt. "This team was just a team who showed up ready to play every day. Their motto for the season as ‘Whatever it Takes,’ and they lived up to that and did whatever it took every time out. They played extremely hard, and they practiced well. They were just a team who were very focused on what they wanted to accomplish. They were an easy team to coach in that respect.

"The other thing with them, was they just continued to improve as the season went along," said Cramblitt. "They were never satisfied with where they were, and always felt they could keep getting better and improve. That is a credit to them because they showed up every day and were willing to work hard to get where they wanted to go."

Juan Diego won the 2A championship in 2003, 2004, and 2005. They became a 3A team during the 2005-2006 season.